She was the largest and most luxurious Imperial Yacht afloat in her time, but The Standart would inevitably meet a similarly tragic fate to her owners. After 30 years in service to the Russian Empire, the Imperial Yacht was stripped of her elegance and converted to a Soviet minelayer for World War II and then became training ship…

A friend of mine just returned from travelling in the Philippines and told me I should look into a cemetery located in the capital of Manila where the dead have better houses than the living. He was right. Most of these “homes” have their own fully-functioning kitchens, bathrooms and even bedrooms where relatives can sleep alongside their buried relatives. In some cases,…

I was feeling as if the speakeasy concept had been somewhat overplayed in recent years and become slightly predictable. But a new lounge-bar in Hong Kong has successfully proved me wrong, raising the bar and bringing back the mystery and romance of it all… FoxGlove opened in November of 2015 and pays homage to the fantasy of the British spy. Designed by…

As far back as 1867, the streets of New York were always bustling with crowds of people. An ambitious engineer and businessman by the name of Alfred Ely Beach had a better idea. He wanted to transport the masses by subway. The radical idea was laughed at and initially Beach could only get a permit…

I embarked on an off-beat hotel trail and wandered the cobbled streets of the city in search of alluring homes away from home in Paris. I suppose this little guide might also come in handy from now on when I’m asked, “Can you suggest a charming and inexpensive hotel in Paris?”. For budgets of all kinds, this…

Some people might have mountains they want to climb on their bucket list, or elephants they want to ride. Me? I’m adding this hotel room onto my bucket list. At a very fancy hotel in the Italian hills of Lombardy, described as an enchanting place off the beaten track for those “seeking the pleasure of some…

It’s the kind of scenario that comes straight out of a science-fiction movie set in the future, where the polar ice caps have melted and everyone is living on manmade islands drifting in the ocean, sailing the Earth. But of course for the 1%, their apocalyptic “Waterworld” looks a little more 5 star… No longer just a…

Like they do at prom, the guests of the 1883 Vanderbilt fancy dress ball each had the opportunity to have their photo taken at the event of the year, or perhaps the century. All of New York’s elite society turned up at the Fifth Avenue mega mansion dressed as pirates, goths, animals, gypsies and other inventive…

There are a few places on this earth where you just know, okay, this is it, this is the place. Whether you’re getting married, looking for an unforgettable place to celebrate a 50th birthday, milestone anniversary or simply in search of paradise on earth in its purest form, perhaps you might consider South Africa’s Babylonstoren…

Even the most expensive VIP box seat at the World Cup has nothing on this. Rewind to 1968 and we’re at the gilded Astrodome stadium in Houston, Texas. This luxurious and flamboyant stadium was the brainchild of Roy Hofheinz, a former mayor of Houston and sports super fan who spent $6 million (around $41 million today) to…